Badly Done War Epic

Rating: 3/10 (2 April 2009)

I just re-watched this film after many years of not viewing it. I watched it with my sons who are interested in World War II. I have to say that across the board it's badly done. I imagine tackling a multi-national, multi-lingual epic is a tough job but everything about it smacks of being done on the cheap. Bad direction that looks like old staged television shows. God-awful editing of picture and sound. One segment of a German officer obviously standing in front of a green-screen beach comes immediately to mind. The officer just sort of appears and disappears from the foreground as the beach stays exactly the same. The sound of the film is very thin. Almost minimal use of sound efx. Main characters have conversations in the foreground with battalions in the background preparing for battle and all you hear is the dialogue. It really looks like they ran out of money while finishing this film. The black and white photography doesn't age well with this film either. Very washed-out looking film And the acting and direction are very wooden. Viewing this film is like watching paint dry or better yet a slide show on the D-Day invasion.